IRS mails out first $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks: Work out your payment schedule - CNET

The IRS is now sending stimulus checks through direct deposit and the mail. Find out if you're eligible for a payment and when you can expect to receive it. SSI and VA recipients may need to take action soon.

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The best meat delivery services in 2020: Holy Grail Steak Co., Crowd Cow, Thrive Market and more - CNET

Explore your options for high-quality beef, pork, chicken and seafood all delivered to your door.

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Why can't I track my stimulus check online? Reasons why the IRS portal might not work for you - CNET

If the IRS' Get My Payment tool for direct deposit and check tracking won't let you in, we found 11 possible explanations.

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PlayStation Store sale: 7 discounted PS4 games to buy now - CNET

$20 will get you surprisingly far.

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Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin Land Contracts to Build NASA's Astronaut Moon Lander

NASA on Thursday selected space firms SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics to build lunar landing systems that can carry astronauts to the moon by 2024, the White House's accelerated deadline under the space agency's moon-to-Mars campaign.

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Apple Sees iPhone Revenues Fall in Q1, as Services and Wearables Help It Grow

Apple on Thursday reported profit slipped as it boosted revenue from services and wearables in a pandemic-cobbled start to the year for the iPhone maker.

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ICANN votes down controversial .org sale proposal

Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images

The organization that oversees internet domain names has rejected a proposal to transfer management of the .org top-level domain from a nonprofit to a private equity group. ICANN said it wouldn’t approve the sale of .org operator Public Interest Registry because it would create “unacceptable uncertainty” for the domain, citing concerns about debt and the intentions of the for-profit firm Ethos Capital.

In a blog post, ICANN’s board said the sale would have given up the current focus of PIR in favor of “an entity that is bound to serve the interests of its corporate stakeholders, and which has no meaningful plan to protect or serve the .org community.” It also noted that the sale would leave PIR with a $360 million debt that could...

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Coronavirus causes worst smartphone market contraction in history

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

The coronavirus pandemic has caused the smartphone market to suffer its fastest ever first-quarter year-on-year decline, according to new data from analyst firms. Counterpoint Research and Canalys both put the overall drop in global shipments at 13 percent, though Counterpoint says the drop in China alone was 27 percent while Canalys calculates it at 18 percent.

Whichever numbers you look at, the situation is clear: it’s the first time shipments have come under 300 million since 2014, with a precipitous collapse in China preceding falling demand around the world. “By the end of the quarter, as COVID-19 started to spread to other regions, and lockdowns of varying severity were imposed, the pendulum of disruption started to swing from...

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Do you have to pay May rent during coronavirus? Evictions, deferrals and the courts - CNET

If you're worried about being able to make rent this month or in the future, learn about your current rights and check out these resources for financial relief.

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This AMD Ryzen mini PC has a unique, exciting feature no other computer has

A brand we’ve never heard of before has come up with a product we’ve never seen before. Maxtang from Aliexpress sells a mini PC that runs on an embedded AMD Ryzen chip - the V1605B - with four, yes four, DisplayPort connectors. We don’t know any other PC that offers this, let alone something that doesn’t require a separate display card or as small as this box.

This Maxtang thin client costs as little as $410.92 from Aliexpress after a $3 coupon. That price is for the barebone model and note that this device ships without any operating system or Wi-Fi module. Other RAM/Storage bundles are available. Please check the website.

• Here's our list of the best thin clients on the market
• Check out our list of the best business computers of 2020
• We've built a list of the best workstations available

Exact prices after the discount in other territories will vary depending on the day’s exchange rate. Aliexpress ships to most territories worldwide via expedited shipping although you may be levied additional charges and fees by customs.

The Ryzen V1605B has four cores, eight threads, 4MB cache and a Vega 8 GPU. That makes it similar to a Ryzen 5 2500U and, according to the popular Passmark benchmark, faster than the Intel Core i5-10210U, which has a similar 15W TDP.

Other than the four display connectors (all capable of outputting to 4K), the thin client has two audio connectors, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, eight USB ports (but no Type-C) and supports two DDR4 SODIMM modules. You can add one M2 SSD and one SATA drive (SSD or HDD) as well.

It weighs a mere 1kg and measures only 18x18.2x3.7cm - that’s just over 1,200cc!

• Here's our choice of the best PCs for video editing around

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Westworld season 3 finale: Wild theories and predictions - CNET

With multiple storylines to close out and the next season to set up, the finale has a lot to cover. We discuss where it might take us.

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Mother's Day 2020: These are our 15 favorite gifts for your mom - CNET

Our list of thoughtful, practical presents carefully curated for these strange times.

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Tesla cuts price for China-made Model 3 cars by 10% to qualify for subsidies

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc said in Friday it has cut the starting price for China-made Model 3 sedans by 10% to qualify for subsidies in the world's biggest auto market.

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Apple, Huawei boost market share, as first-quarter China smartphone shipments fall: Canalys

Apple Inc and Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] each captured a higher share of China's smartphone market in the first quarter, according to data from research firm Canalys released on Friday.

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Are ‘anti-virus’ cars in China just a gimmick?

Car brands are looking to tap into the country’s heightened health concerns to help kick-start flagging sales.

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US airlines begin to mandate face mask use - CNET

Here are the steps US airlines are taking to protect passengers and crew from the spread of the coronavirus.

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Best healthy food delivery services in 2020 - CNET

For vegetarian, keto, organic, low-calorie and more diets.

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FDA approves new NASA-developed ventilator for coronavirus patients - CNET

The new machine can be built faster, more easily and with fewer parts than a traditional ventilator, the space agency says.

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iPhone 11 vs. iPhone 11 Pro: The main differences you should care about - CNET

We compare the specs and features of iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro to help you choose the best Apple phone.

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9 must-see Rick and Morty episodes to watch before the new shows - CNET

There's still time to catch up on some interdimensional cable, Mr. Meeseeks and Pickle Rick.

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Best dog food delivery services: Pet Plate, The Farmer's Dog and more - CNET

These convenient dog food delivery services will save you a trip to the store.

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The best prepared meal delivery services in 2020: Home Chef, Daily Harvest, Home Bistro and more - CNET

No-fuss, oven-ready meal kits.

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Walmart launches two-hour delivery service for groceries, electronics, and more

Walmart store

Walmart is launching a new delivery service, called Express Delivery, that will get purchased items to a customers’ home in less than two hours, the company announced on Thursday. The new service could be helpful if you need to get items in a hurry while respecting shelter-in-place orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You’ll be able to use Express Delivery for more 160,000 items, including “groceries, everyday essentials, toys and electronics,” Walmart says. Express Delivery will cost $10 in addition to the regular charge for delivery unless you’re a member of the company’s Delivery Unlimited subscription service, in which case you’ll just pay $10 for Express Delivery. (Similar to Amazon Prime, Delivery Unlimited costs $98 annually or...

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IRS mails out first coronavirus $1,200 stimulus checks: Find out your payment schedule - CNET

The IRS is now sending stimulus checks through direct deposit and the mail. Find out if you're eligible for a payment and when you can expect to receive it. SSI and VA recipients may need to take action soon.

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Meet EventBot, a new Android malware that steals banking passwords and two-factor codes

Security researchers are sounding the alarm over a newly discovered Android malware that targets banking apps and cryptocurrency wallets.

The malware, which researchers at security firm Cybereason recently discovered and called EventBot, masquerades as a legitimate Android app — like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Word for Android — which abuses Android’s in-built accessibility features to obtain deep access to the device’s operating system.

Once installed — either by an unsuspecting user or by a malicious person with access to a victim’s phone — the EventBot-infected fake app quietly siphons off passwords for more than 200 banking and cryptocurrency apps — including PayPal, Coinbase, CapitalOne and HSBC — and intercepts and two-factor authentication text message codes.

With a victim’s password and two-factor code, the hackers can break into bank accounts, apps and wallets, and steal a victim’s funds.

“The developer behind Eventbot has invested a lot of time and resources into creating the code, and the level of sophistication and capabilities is really high,” Assaf Dahan, head of threat research at Cybereason, told TechCrunch.

The malware quietly records every tap and key press, and can read notifications from other installed apps, giving the hackers a window into what’s happening on a victim’s device.

Over time, the malware siphons off banking and cryptocurrency app passwords back to the hackers’ server.

The researchers said that EventBot remains a work in progress. Over a period of several weeks since its discovery in March, the researchers saw the malware iteratively update every few days to include new malicious features. At one point the malware’s creators improved the encryption scheme it uses to communicate with the hackers’ server, and included a new feature that can grab a user’s device lock code, likely to allow the malware to grant itself higher privileges to the victim’s device like payments and system settings.

But while the researchers are stumped as to who is behind the campaign, their research suggests the malware is brand new.

“Thus far, we haven’t observed clear cases of copy-paste or code reuse from other malware and it seems to have been written from scratch,” said Dahan.

Android malware is not new, but it’s on the rise. Hackers and malware operators have increasingly targeted mobile users because many device owners have their banking apps, social media, and other sensitive services on their device. Google has improved Android security in recent years by screening apps in its app store and proactively blocking third-party apps to cut down on malware — with mixed results. Many malicious apps have evaded Google’s detection.

Cybereason said it has not yet seen EventBot on Android’s app store or in active use in malware campaigns, limiting the exposure to potential victims — for now.

But the researchers said users should avoid untrusted apps from third-party sites and stores, many of which don’t screen their apps for malware.

Millions downloaded dozens of Android apps from Google Play that were infected with adware

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Nintendo seen extending profit streak as housebound consumers switch on

Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd is expected to extend its decade-high earnings streak when it reports fourth-quarter results next week, powered by the hit Switch console which is expanding its reach among locked-down consumers.

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This tiny touchscreen Windows laptop is surprisingly cheap

Convertible laptops tend to carry a significant premium over their traditional siblings. A new laptop however bucks that trend; the Nanote will only be sold in Japan for 19,800 yen (that’s about US$185, £149 or AU$285).

Its unique selling point is its unbelievably tiny price tag that’s matched by an equally small screen - a 7-inch touchscreen display - and its 360-degree hinge. The Nanote resembles the Chuwi Minibook we reviewed last year but is even smaller (181 x 114 x 19.6mm and a weight of 520g) and has the same physical constraints.

• Here's our list of the best business laptops of 2020
• Check out our list of the best business tablets available
• We've put together a list of the best rugged tablets on the market

There’s no trackpad - only an optical touch sensor - and the keyboard is cramped. The rest of the specification makes it painfully obvious that corners had to be cut to keep the price down; there’s a 5-year old Intel Atom x5-Z8350 paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. 

The rest of the specs isn’t too shabby: the screen has a 1920 x 1200pixel resolution, there’s a microHDMI port, 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD card reader, a USB 3.0 port, a USB Type-C port, a 5,000 mAh battery, a VGA webcam, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. 

It is manufactured by a Japanese company and it is very unlikely that it will be available outside of that country for now.

• Here's our list of the best rugged laptops around

Via Liliputing

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iPhone SE vs. iPhone 11 comparison: Which Apple phone to buy in 2020 - CNET

Apple's iPhone SE for 2020 is $300 cheaper than the baseline iPhone 11. Here's what you get (and don't get) for that price.

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DJI's Mavic Air 2 delivers more of everything at the same price video - CNET

Starting at $800, the company's top consumer drone flies longer and farther, and is smarter than ever.

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Clash of tech titans: Zuckerberg praises coronavirus lockdowns; Musk sees 'fascism'

Silicon Valley billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg offered dueling views on lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus on Wednesday, with Facebook's Zuckerberg endorsing the measures while Tesla's Musk condemned them as anti-democratic.

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TikTok surpasses 2 billion download mark - CNET

Video-sharing app's popularity continues to grow as people look for new ways to connect during the coronavirus pandemic, an analytics firm reports.

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The best prepared meal delivery services in 2020: Home Chef, Daily Harvest, Veestro and more - CNET

No-fuss, oven-ready meal kits.

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Redmi Note 9, Mi Note 10 Lite Expected to Launch Today: How to Watch Live Stream, Specifications, More

Xiaomi is all set to host its global launch event today, wherein it is expected to unveil the Redmi Note 9 and the Mi Note 10 Lite phones. The two phones have leaked on multiple occasions in the past, and the Mi Note 10 Lite was recently spotted on US FCC as well.

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Coronavirus: Serena Williams among stars to compete in Mario Tennis tournament

Naomi Osaka and the Williams sisters will play and be live-streamed on Facebook's gaming platform.

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The best meat delivery services in 2020: Crowd Cow, Thrive Market, Butcher Box and more - CNET

Explore your options for high-quality beef, pork, chicken and seafood all delivered to your door.

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Elon Musk calls COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders 'fascist' on Tesla Q1 earnings call - CNET

Things got weird, fast.

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Coronavirus drug remdesivir shows 'clear-cut positive effect' in US trial - CNET

Experimental antiviral remdesivir holds promise as a treatment for COVID-19 -- but questions remain.

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Tesla's Elon Musk calling coronavirus lockdowns 'fascist' overshadows profitable quarter

Tesla Inc's outspoken CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday called sweeping U.S. stay-at-home restrictions to curtail the coronavirus outbreak "fascist" as the electric carmaker posted its third quarterly profit in a row.

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US wireless carriers are delivering phone chargers to hospitals for COVID-19 patients

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have all partnered with iHeartMedia to deliver thousands of phone chargers to hospitals so that COVID-19 patients can charge their phones. The companies will donate nearly 40,000 phone chargers, according to T-Mobile’s press release.

T-Mobile says it has already donated 20,000 chargers to hospitals in Seattle, New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans and San Diego. Verizon says it’s providing thousands of chargers to healthcare providers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Philadelphia, and more. AT&T says it will donate thousands of chargers to “hospitals in cities across the country that have been hit the hardest by the virus.”

The donation efforts by the wireless...

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Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra phones are reportedly cracking around the camera - CNET

Some users have complained of a fracture across their phone's camera.

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SoftBank sees $8.4 billion net loss on WeWork writedown

SoftBank Group Corp said it sees a loss of around 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the year ending March on the portion of its WeWork investment held outside the Vision Fund, extending the group's expected net loss to 900 billion yen.

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Tesla's Elon Musk calls coronavirus lockdowns 'fascist' as profit streak continues

Tesla Inc's outspoken CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday called sweeping U.S. stay-at-home restrictions to curtail the coronavirus outbreak "fascist" as the electric carmaker posted its third quarterly profit in a row.

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Facebook sees 'signs of stability' in ad spending after coronavirus drop

Facebook Inc beat analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday and said it has seen "signs of stability" for sales in April after a plunge in March, in yet another signal that tech giants may weather the coronavirus-induced economic collapse better than other sectors.

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Elon Musk says shelter-in-place orders during COVID-19 are ‘fascist’

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk called the shelter-in-place orders in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the US “fascist” actions that are stripping people of their freedom on a Tesla earnings call on Wednesday. Musk’s comments come after a torrent of criticism for remarks he made late Tuesday night on Twitter, in which the billionaire CEO echoed President Trump by writing in all caps, “Free America Now.”

The rant began after Musk said, “We are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area, and that should be identified as a serious risk.” Six Bay Area counties jointly extended the shelter-in-place orders affecting San Francisco, Fremont, and other cities through May 31st, with only some minor relaxing of restrictions.

“Give...

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Lime reportedly plans to lay off as many as 100 employees

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Lime is planning to lay off between 80 and 100 of its workers, according to Axios, an indication the company has run into financial troubles during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Lime did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Bloomberg also reported that layoffs at Lime could be on the way, saying the cuts may hit staff in both the US and Europe and could affect as many as 190 workers. However, “our understanding is that the number is significantly lower,” Axios reported today. Some employees have already been told they are being let go, Bloomberg said. Bloomberg also reported back in March that Lime was considering laying off between 50 and 70 people.

Lyft, Uber, and Bird have all recently done layoffs

The scooter startup...

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Training AI 'to translate mum's phone messages'

How African researchers are using the continent's languages to help spur innovation in Artificial Intelligence.

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OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8 Pre-Bookings Open in India, Sale Date Revealed

OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 pre-bookings have been kicked off in India. The pre-bookings are live through Amazon, with the sale date for both OnePlus 8 phones scheduled for May 11.

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Google Parent Alphabet Says Ad Sales Steady After Coronavirus Drop, Warns of Difficult Q2

A drop in Google ad sales steadied in April and some consumers returned to using the search engine for shopping in addition to finding novel coronavirus information, parent Alphabet said on Tuesday.

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Apple Watch 3 vs. Fitbit Versa: Which smartwatch should you buy? - CNET

Your answer might be different depending on whether your priority is a smartwatch or a fitness tracker.

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Track your coronavirus stimulus check status through the IRS Get My Payment app - CNET

Check the status of your coronavirus stimulus payment with the IRS' online tracker.

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IRS mails first waves of coronavirus $1,200 stimulus checks: Work out your payment schedule - CNET

The IRS is now sending out the first wave of stimulus payments through the mail and direct deposit. Find out if you're eligible for a check and when you may expect to receive it. Those receiving VA and SSI benefits may need to take action soon.

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Can API vendors solve healthcare’s data woes?

A functioning healthcare system depends on caregivers having the right data at the right time to make the right decision about what course of treatment a patient needs.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic and the acceleration of the consumer adoption of telemedicine, along with the fragmentation of care to a number of different low-cost providers, access to a patient’s medical records to get an accurate picture of their health becomes even more important.

Opening access to developers also could unlock new, integrated services that could give consumers a better window into their own health and consumer product companies opportunities to develop new tools to improve health.

While hospitals, urgent care facilities and health systems have stored patient records electronically for years thanks to laws passed under the Clinton administration, those records were difficult for patients themselves to access. The way the system has been historically structured has made it nearly impossible for an individual to access their entire medical history.

It’s a huge impediment to ensuring that patients receive the best care they possibly can, and until now it’s been a boulder that companies have long tried to roll uphill, only to have it roll over them.

Now, new regulations are requiring that the developers of electronic health records can’t obstruct interoperability and access by applications. Those new rules may unlock a wave of new digital services.

At least that’s what companies like the New York-based startup Particle Health are hoping to see. The startup was founded by a former emergency medical technician and consultant, Troy Bannister, and longtime software engineer for companies like Palantir and Google, Dan Horbatt.

Particle Health is stepping into the breach with an API-based solution that borrows heavily from the work that Plaid and Stripe have done in the world of financial services. It’s a gambit that’s receiving support from investors including Menlo Ventures, Startup Health, Collaborative Fund, Story Ventures and Company Ventures, as well as angel investors from the leadership of Flatiron Health, Clover Health, Plaid, Petal and Hometeam.

Image via Getty Images / OstapenkoOlena

“My first reaction when I met Troy, and he was describing what they’re doing, was that it couldn’t be done,” said Greg Yap, a partner with Menlo Ventures, who leads the firm’s life sciences investments. “We’ve understood how much of a challenge and how much of a tax the lack of easy portability of data puts on the healthcare system, but the problem has always felt like there are so many obstacles that it is too difficult to solve.”

What convinced Yap’s firm, Menlo Ventures, and the company’s other backers, was an ability to provide both data portability and privacy in a way that put patients’ choice at the center of how data is used and accessed, the investor said.

“[A service] has to be portable for it to be useful, but it has to be private for it to be well-used,” says Yap. 

The company isn’t the first business to raise money for a data integration service. Last year, Redox, a Madison, Wis.-based developer of API services for hospitals, raised $33 million in a later-stage round of funding. Meanwhile, Innovaccer, another API developer, has raised more than $100 million from investors for its own take.

Each of these companies is solving a different problem that the information silos in the medical industry presents, according to Patterson. “Their integrations are focused one-to-one on hospitals,” he said. Application developers can use Redox’s services to gain access to medical records from a particular hospital network, he explained. Whereas using Particle Health’s technology, developers can get access to an entire network.

“They get contracts and agreements with the hospitals. We go up the food chain and get contracts with the [electronic medical records],” said Patterson.

One of the things that’s given Particle Health a greater degree of freedom to acquire and integrate with existing healthcare systems is the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016. That law required that the providers of electronic medical records like Cerner and EPIC had to remove any roadblocks that would keep patient data siloed. Another is the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, which was just enacted in the past month.

“We don’t like betting on companies that require a change in law to become successful,” said Yap of the circumstances surrounding Particle’s ability to leapfrog well-funded competitors. But the opportunity to finance a company that could solve a core problem in digital healthcare was too compelling.

“What we’re really saying is that consumers should have access to their medical records,” he said.

Isometric Healthcare and technology concept banner. Medical exams and online consultation concept. Medicine. Vector illustration

This access can make consumer wearables more useful by potentially linking them — and the health data they collect — with clinical data used by physicians to actually make care and treatment decisions. Most devices today are not clinically recognized and don’t have any real integration into the healthcare system. Access to better data could change that on both sides.

“Digital health application might be far more effective if it can take into context information in the medical record today,” said Yap. “That’s one example where the patient will get much greater impact from the digital health applications if the digital health applications can access all of the information that the medical system collected.” 

With the investment, which values Particle Health at roughly $48 million, Bannister and his team are looking to move aggressively into more areas of digital healthcare services.

“Right now, we’re focusing on telemedicine,” said Bannister. “We’re moving into the payer space… As it stands today we’re really servicing the third parties that need the records. Our core belief is that patients want control of their data but they don’t want the stewardship.”

The company’s reach is impressive. Bannister estimates that Particle Health can hit somewhere between 250 and 300 million of the patient records that have been generated in the U.S. “We have more or less solved the fragmentation problem. We have one API that can pull information from almost everywhere.”

So far, Particle Health has eight live contracts with telemedicine and virtual health companies using its API, which have pulled 1.4 million patient records to date.

“The way it works right now, when you give them permission to access your data it’s for a very specific purpose of use… they can only use it for that one thing. Let’s say you were using a telemedicine service. I allow this doctor to view my records for the purpose of treatment only. After that we have built a way for you to revoke access after the point,” Bannister said.

Particle Health’s peers in the world of API development also see the power in better, more open access to data. “A lot of money has been spent and a lot of blood and sweat went into putting [electronic medical records] out there,” said Innovaccer chief digital officer Mike Sutten.

The former chief technology officer of Kaiser Permanente, Sutten knows healthcare technology. “The next decade is about ‘let’s take advantage of all of this data.’ Let’s give back to physicians and give them access to all that data and think about the consumers and the patients,” Sutten said.

Innovaccer is angling to provide its own tools to centralize data for physicians and consumers. “The less friction there is in getting that data extracted, the more benefit we can provide to consumers and clinicians,” said Sutten.

Already, Particle Health is thinking about ways its API can help application developers create tools to help with the management of COVID-19 populations and potentially finding ways to ease the current lockdowns in place due to the disease’s outbreak.

“If you’ve had an antibody test or PCR test in the past… we should have access to that data and we should be able to provide that data at scale,” said Bannister. 

“There’s probably other risk-indicating factors that could at least help triage or clear groups as well… has this person been quarantined has this person been to the hospital in the past month or two… things like that can help bridge the gap,” between the definitive solution of universal testing and the lack of testing capacity to make that a reality, he said. 

“We’re definitely working on these public health initiatives,” Bannister said. Soon, the company’s technology — and other services like it — could be working behind the scenes in private healthcare initiatives from some of the nation’s biggest companies as software finally begins to take bigger bites out of the consumer health industry.

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